Ner'zhul
Ner'zhul was an orc shaman who became a warlock and eventually the Lich King. Background Dark Practices of Ner'zhul As a warlock, Ner'zhul was one of the most volatile and insatiable of spellcasters. Though he often pledged himself to the service of noble causes and was not innately evil, his desire to understand darker magics and exercise unwavering command over demonic forces bred mistrust among even his closest allies. As a warlock, Ner'zhul peered into the Void without hesitation, leveraging the chaos they glimpse within to devastating ends in battle—his greatest abilities were fueled by the souls they’ve harvested from their victims. He exploited powerful shadow magic to manipulate and degrade the minds and bodies of his enemies. He employed fire magic, dropping hellish rain from the sky, to immolate the opposition. He also summoned and commanded indomitable demons from the Twisting Nether to do his bidding, or even to be sacrificed as Ner'zhul saw fit, empowering and protecting the dark caster from harm.World of Warcraft > Legion Class Preview Series: Warlock Death, Decay, and Destruction Death, in the form of necromantic magic, pushes everything towards a state of entropic decay (or fel decay) and eventual oblivion.World of Warcraft: Chronicle Volume 1 pg. 16-17 on iBooks Entropy, as it can be defined, is the representation of the unavailability of a system's energy for conversion into work, often interpreted as the degree of disorder. Order, in reality, is most commonly perceived as arcane magic, which necromancy is a school of.The Schools of Arcane Magic - Necromancy However, this does not mean order is always perceived as arcane magic in reality. This type of energy is innately volatile, and wielding it requires intense precision and concentration. Now, conversely, disorder is manifested as highly destructive fel magic, a brutal and extremely addictive energy fueled by drawing life from living beings.World of Warcraft: Chronicle Volume 1 pg.17 on iBooks File:Death Coil.jpg|Death Coil: Death is not something you can run from when it comes for you. File: Kena Shadowbrand.jpg|Kena Shadowbrand: Warlocks have the ability to convert their own life force into rewards - both material and evanescent. File:Undead Warlock using Life Tap.jpg|Life Tap: When the dark arts call for flesh, you can only trust your own. Ner'zhul's fel energy, according to Chris Metzen, is essentially death energyBlizzCon 2005 - Lore Panel (a necrotic power) and would (or does) — as a destructive force — destroy structures, breaking them down over time or outright obliterating them. Despite that fact, Micky Neilson — veteran of Blizzard Entertainment — stated that fel magic is not the same as death. Fel is the primal force of chaos and it can pool into a green goop when it's in physical form.Dave Kosak on Twitter It is a substanceQuest:The Strength of Corruption that can be animatedAnimated Fel (is that substance alive when animate?). Prior to being animated, fel is inanimate and so Ner'zhul was, presumably, an animancer or necromancer who was able to animate — or fuel — the fel by drawing life from living beings. According to Justin Parker's logic, Ner'zhul — as a warlock — wasn't a necromancer even though warlocks have necromantic abilities. It seems that Justin Parker doesn't understand that Ner'zhul could not have had the abilities of a necromancer without being a necromancer himself and that necromantic magic has many functions beyond simply raising the dead. If anything, Ner'zhul — as a warlock — was a necromancer who focused on afflicting enemies with a necrotic affliction such as the plague of undeath, destroying enemies with necrotic powers, or summoning and controlling demonic spirits from the demonic runeblade known as Frostmourne. Necromancy can also be used to reconstruct the flesh of undead creatures, allowing them to function again even after the foul monsters have been destroyed. If Ner'zhul was a destruction warlock, he was well-versed in discharging a dizzying array of shadow, fel, fire, and chaos magics upon opponents that rattle souls and conflagrate bodies. He would have required little motivation for the havoc he wreaked, happy to revel in the destruction he caused—thrilled at any opportunity to watch the world erupt in discord. Demonology By their very nature, demons are leeches on the living universe—but if Ner'zhul was a demonology warlock, had mastered harnessing the power of these malefic beings on the field of battle. Ner'zhul, as a warlock, harvested the souls of his defeated enemies, presumably with frostmourne, a demonic runeblade; those specialized in the ways of demonology use this life essence to tap into the Void, pulling all manner of abomination from the chaos of the Twisting Nether. While such a practice is often considered by outsiders to be wicked and reckless, Ner'zhul would have maintained absolute control over the summoned creatures. These malignant entities would have been fully beholden to—and empowered by—the will of Ner'zhul, until banished to the realm from whence they came. Necrotic Affliction If Ner'zhul was an affliction warlock, he was the master of shadow-touched powers. Unlike a shadow priest—deadliest when pushed to the brink of insanity—this warlock would have delighted in using fel forces to cause intense pain and suffering in others. He would have reveled in corrupting minds and agonizing souls, leaving enemies in a state of torment that would see them undone in due time. Quotes References Category:Warlocks